Ferndale man helps nab burglary suspect

Ferndale police credit an alert neighbor with helping them catch a burglary suspect who is a parole absconder with a lengthy criminal history.

"Had it not been for this resident seeing a suspicious person and calling us immediately, we probably never would have caught this suspect," said Ferndale Police Lt. William Wilson.

Alfred L. James, 49, of Detroit is jailed on $50,000 cash bond in the July 3 burglary. He was arraigned Friday in Ferndale 43rd District Court on charges of receiving and concealing stolen tools and a bike, and burglarizing a house in the 500 block of Flowerdale.

James is due in Ferndale District Court at 1 p.m. Thursday for a pre-exam conference.

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A man who lives in the Eight Mile and Livernois area called police shortly before 12:15 a.m. to report a suspicious man riding a bike on the street and carrying tools, police said.

Police arrived and said they stopped the suspect, who gave them a false identification. James is known to have used at least 11 aliases, according to Michigan Department of Correction records.

Ferndale police arrested James for being a parole absconder.

"Several hours later we got a call from a homeowner on Flowerdale who told us someone broke into his house and stole his bike and a tool set," Wilson said. "It turned out the parole absconder we arrested had the homeowner's bike and tools."

The homeowner later identified the items stolen from his house, police said. He told police he had returned home after being away several hours and noticed the lights were on and his bike was missing. While he was talking to police he also noticed his tools were gone, police said.

The homeowner had left his kitchen windows open when he left. Police said the suspect entered the house through one of the open windows and later left through a door.

"If a criminal is looking for a house to burglarize, they will look for one with an open window so they don't run the risk of making noise by having to break a window," Wilson said. "Homeowners should always lock their doors and windows."

James' criminal history includes convictions for two second-degree home invasions, breaking and entering, receiving and concealing a stolen vehicle, and injuring a police officer while resisting arrest.